ONS: 16 November 2015

AFRICA: At least six people were killed and several others wounded in the latest violence in the Burundi capital, Bujumbura, after the launch of a crackdown search for weapons.

AMERICAS: The Pentagon transferred five Yemeni detainees, held for more than a decade at the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United Arab Emirates.

ASIA: The first of 12,000 Syrian refugees to be resettled in Australia will arrive within 24 hours, as concerns about security checks mount after attacks in Paris.

EUROPE: Belgian police launched a major new operation in the Brussels district of Molenbeek, where several suspects in the Paris attacks had previously lived.

MIDDLE EAST: US warplanes for the first time attacked hundreds of trucks the extremist group has been using to smuggle the crude oil it has been producing in Syria.

TECHNOLOGY: South African telecoms giant MTN has won a respite on the massive USD 5.2B fine imposed on the company in Nigeria to allow for negotiations.

TOP STORY

France: Response includes heavy bombardment of Syrian ISIS sites and several raids, arrests throughout France and Europe.

French fighter jets bombed a series of ISIS sites in Raqqa, Syria, in what officials described as a major bombardment.

It was the biggest such bombardment by France since the country expanded its aerial campaign against Islamic State in September, and was carried out with targeting information supplied by US intelligence.

French police searched the homes of suspected radical Islamists across France, hours after airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Syria.

A senior official familiar with the investigation said authorities suspected that as many as 20 people in Europe had been involved in planning, supporting and executing the attack.

French authorities said one of the terrorists who struck Paris was the same man who entered Europe through Greece on a Syrian passport last month, providing new evidence that the attackers used the flow of hundreds of thousands of migrants to further their plot.

French officials were working with authorities in Belgium, Spain and Serbia in an attempt to shed more light on the attack.

Burundi: At least six people were killed and several others wounded in the latest violence in the capital Bujumbura, after the launch of a crackdown search for weapons. (AFP)

Morocco: The country said security forces have dismantled a new cell affiliated to the Islamic State militant group. (Xinhua)

South Africa: The country has signed a technical cooperation agreement with China, pressing forward with controversial plans to build eight new nuclear reactors. (AFP)

AMERICAS

Region: The Pentagon transferred five Yemeni detainees, held for more than a decade at the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United Arab Emirates. (WP)

Argentina: The government signed several agreements with China to build the country’s fourth and fifth nuclear power plants for an investment of USD 14B. (EFE)

Brazil: Several hundred far-right protesters in the capital Brasilia called for a military coup against unpopular leftist President Dilma Rousseff. (AFP)

Colombia: The FARC rebel group has urged the government to release 81 of its jailed fighters on health grounds. (BBC)

ASIA

Australia: The first of 12,000 Syrian refugees to be resettled in the country will arrive within 24 hours, as concerns about security checks mount after attacks in Paris. (AFP)

China: A US Navy destroyer has docked in Shanghai in a sign that contacts between the US and Chinese militaries are continuing despite tensions over the South China Sea. (AP)

Philippines: The government is conducting “clearing operations” to round up and detain hundreds of homeless people, including children, so that they will not be visible during this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting. (NYT)

Japan: The country’s economy slipped into recession for the second time since PM Shinzo Abe came to power nearly three years ago. (AFP)

North Korea: UN chief Ban Ki-moon will visit the reclusive state, the first time for the head of the international body in over two decades. (CNN)

EUROPE

Region: Russia has made a proposal to the International Monetary Fund over its USD 3B debt dispute with Ukraine. (AFP)

Albania: Albanian Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri has received a threatening message from those allegedly supporting the Islamic State group. (Xinhua)

Belgium: Belgian police launched a major new operation in the Brussels district of Molenbeek, where several suspects in the Paris attacks had previously lived. (AFP)

Britain: British security services have foiled around seven terror attacks since June with fighters returning from Syria posing a growing threat, PM David Cameron said. (AFP)

Turkey: The country canceled a long-delayed plan to buy a USD 3.4B Chinese missile defense system and will develop its own instead. (Bloomberg)

MIDDLE EAST

Region: Two Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces when the troops demolished the home of a Palestinian arrested for killing an Israeli in the West Bank this summer. (Xinhua)

Region: Saudi-led coalition forces advanced towards Yemeni city of Taez after sending major reinforcements in a bid to break a months-long siege by Iran-backed rebels. (AFP)

Saudi Arabia: The country’s civil aviation authority has announced a plan to privatize its airports by 2020, in an effort to diversify its economy to boost non-oil income. (AFP)

Syria: US warplanes for the first time attacked hundreds of trucks the extremist group has been using to smuggle the crude oil it has been producing. (NYT)

TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATIONS

Communications: South African telecoms giant MTN has won a respite on the massive USD 5.2B fine imposed on the company in Nigeria to allow for negotiations. (AFP)

Global: Exercise Maru, a discussion-based exercise between the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and the Republic of Koreaa, aims to improve capability to stop the trafficking of WMDs (to 19NOV)